When this photograph of the 16th Annual Central Church Reunion was taken, on July 29, 1923, most of the town of Central was still standing. Photo MTU Archives

HOUGHTON TOWNSHIP — The 118th Annual Central Church Reunion is this Sunday, July 28, with services as 9 and 11 a.m., with Pastor Larry Malloy presiding each service. The first reunion was held on July 21, 1907, three years after the church officially closed.

Molloy, pastor of Bethany Lutheran Church in Mohawk and Shepherd of the Sea in Copper Harbor, said that one of the high points of the service for him is when those who have any relationship to those who once lived at Central yell out their family name and the sound reverberates from the plain, white walls of the old, Cornish styled, church.

“It is an honor to be asked to lead worship at the Central Reunion again this year,” he said.

Since the first reunion, in 1907, people have gathered at Central Mine for a Reunion Service to remember and honor those who live at Central while the mine was active from 1854 to 1898, Malloy said. During the early reunions it was residents, and then descendants of those who lived at Central, who attended the service.

“But today it is a combination of descendants, history buffs and tourists who gather to sit in the same pews where the early miners of the Keweenaw sat,” said Malloy. “The nondenominational service is a blend of history, worship and praise.”

The service includes a choir sitting in the same seats where the first Central choir sat, as well as the Chorister Choir — young children who use their voices to add to the Central tradition. The church is one of the few remaining structures in Central, once home to some 1,200 people.

One of the true pioneer ventures in the Michigan copper mining region, the Central Mining Company was organized on Nov. 15, 1854, after John Slawson, agent at the Cliff Mine, discovered the fissure vein on which the company was built. The mine was active until closing on July 20, 1898.

The town of Central was located near an ancient mining pit along an outcrop below a Greenstone Bluff. Cornish miners were sought for their extensive mining knowledge. With them came their families, who were, traditionally members of the Methodist faith.

The Central Mine Methodist Church website states that during its 44-year lifetime, two generations matured. Central was a leader through Keweenaw – in copper production, in the size of its population (over 1,200 at its peak), and in the pride of its citizens in its mine, its coronet band, its handsome schoolhouse and its church. Since the first reunion of Central residents in 1907, the little church on the hill comes back to life in celebration and remembrance of those who worked and lived here long ago.

The Central closed on July 20, 1898. Most of its workers found employment at the nearby Mohawk mine, which was just beginning its own copper production career. But many of Central’s former residents returned to celebrate the first reunion in 1907. The annual event has continued every year since.

Everyone is welcome to come and share the experience of worshiping, Malloy said, just as the early pioneers worshiped at Central during the services when the mine was operating.